Blessing in Disguise
by R37uy
Summary: In a twist of fate, Hiccup is unable to make it to the forge to retrieve his bola launcher during the raid. Stumbling upon a witch deep in the woods, Hiccup is cursed with a fate any viking would consider worse than death. Trapped in the body of his former tribe's worst enemy, it will take all of his courage to make it out of this alive. A far less serious Dragon!Hiccup story
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello, everyone! For anyone who follows me, this story probably came out of nowhere, seeing as I was solely a Pokemon author prior to this, but I needed some inspiration and decided to branch out a bit! I hope you all enjoy the chapter! Make sure to leave a review after you finish and let me know what you think! Reviews are easily my biggest form of inspiration, and constructive criticism always helps me to improve as a writer.**

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Blessing in Disguise: Chapter 1

Hiccup was having an awful day. It had started like any other day, climbing out of bed and rushing over to the forge to help Gobber with repairing the village's weaponry, being sure to keep his head low to avoid the accusatory glares of the townsfolk along the way. Luckily, he managed to make it there without much incident, and set to work.

He had just finished building his latest contraption - a bola launcher - that he was hoping to use to shoot down a dragon, and was eager to test it out. Around his home island of Berk, killing a dragon meant everything. It was a way of life, and the stronger the dragon you killed, the higher your placement in society would be.

The rest of the day went by pretty much uneventfully, and for that he was thankful. It was the moment the sun sunk below the horizon that Hiccup's luck took a nosedive. Around an hour after he went to bed, he was startled awake by the sound of a horn in the distance. There was a raid on the way.

Leaping out of bed, Hiccup bolted down the steps, barely remembering to put on his boots before rushing out the door. Now was his chance! If he could make it to the forge before the dragons arrived, he should be able to get his bola launcher set up on the western cliffs with a clear shot at one of the watchtowers. He was aiming to take down a Night Fury, the most elusive and dangerous species of dragon to ever roam the archipelago. No one had ever managed to even see a Night Fury and live to tell the tale, so if he could kill one, he could easily turn his life around, going from Hiccup the "Useless" to Hiccup the "Hero" in just one night.

He had barely managed to get down the steps in front of his home when he realized something was wrong. The village was already burning; the dragons were already on top of them. Silently cursing his luck, Hiccup decided to make a break for the forge anyways. Winter was nearing, and it was possible that this could be his last chance to down the beast before spring. The dragons stopped raiding during the winter. No one was sure as to why, but no one was going to complain. They had enough trouble trying not to starve or freeze to death during those treacherous months as it was.

Hiccup broke out into a sprint in the direction of the forge, but before he could even get to the end of his street, a house to his left literally _exploded_, the gas of a Zippleback blowing the home to smithereens. Unfortunately for Hiccup, the burning rubble of the home completely blocked off his path to the rest of the village. Hiccup noticed the massive form of an approaching Monstrous Nightmare, and decided not to test his luck.

He made an attempt to get back to the safety of his house, however 'safe' hiding in a wooden shack from fire breathing dragons could be, but was again stopped dead in his tracks as the Nightmare launched a stream of fire at him, missing by mere inches and setting his home ablaze. Panicking, Hiccup looked around for somewhere to hide from the approaching beast, but was terrified to realize that every house around him was completely up in flames. With no other options, Hiccup made a break for the treeline behind his house.

Scared out of his mind, Hiccup kept running even after he reached the safety of the woods, and didn't stop until the sounds of the raid faded from his ears. After catching his breath, Hiccup looked around in an attempt to figure out where he was, with no luck. Cursing his luck once more, he decided to wait a few minutes before returning to the village. Hopefully the dragons will have moved on to another part of the village by then.

Suddenly, Hiccup spun around as a branch snapped directly behind him. He couldn't see anyone, but was not convinced. "Who's there?! I know someone is out there!"

There was a few seconds of tense silence, before the sound of laughter filled his ears. It wasn't a happy laugh, though. The sound sent a shiver up his spine, and he quickly reached for his dagger, hoping to drive away whatever crazy hermit he had stumbled upon.

As soon as his hand reached his weapon, a chilling voice reached his ears. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, boy."

"Who are you?! Show yourself!" Hiccup yelled, trying (and failing) to put on a brave face.

"My, my, such rude behavior. Is that how you greet all your elders?" With that, an old lady stepped out from behind a tree. She was dressed in a dark purple cape which had several gemstones sewn into the fabric. Her face sent a chill down Hiccup's spine. Over half of her teeth were missing, with the remaining few yellow and rotted. There were scars running down her heavily wrinkled face. That wasn't what spooked Hiccup, however. That kind of stuff was common in his village. What unnerved Hiccup was the glass eye that took the place of where her left eye should have been. Embedded in the glass was a slightly glowing amethyst. The overall image of the woman made Hiccup want to flee, but he held his ground.

"Well excuse me if I'm cautious of some creepy old lady that I've never met in the middle of the woods in the dead of night," Hiccup snarked, before quickly realizing that now was probably not the best time for his sarcastic side to show as a sinister grin crossed the woman's face.

"Oh, a sarcastic one, I see! You'll do just nicely for my next experiment!" She said wickedly.

"E-experiment?" Hiccup repeated shakily. He looked around for a possible escape route. He was not liking the way this was turning out.

Noticing the boy's fear, the woman pulled a staff from under her cloak and pointed it at Hiccup. There was a slight hum in the air before a blast of energy shot from the tip of the staff and hit Hiccup in the chest.

"Y-you're a..!" Hiccup stammered, realizing the direness of his situation, and attempted to flee. Unfortunately, he quickly found that he couldn't move his limbs; he was frozen in place.

"A witch, yes," the woman said with a dark smirk. "And now that you know, I can't exactly let you go back and tell your village, now can I? I guess that makes you a perfect candidate for the new spell I've been meaning to test out."

"W-what are you going to do to me?!" Hiccup asked fearfully, to which the witch simply grinned.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," she said with a cackle. Her staff began to glow an eerie shade of purple as she once again pointed it at the boy.

Hiccup could do nothing but scream as the staff unleashed its built up energy directly into him. The worst pain Hiccup had ever felt shot through every nerve in his body, but thankfully for him, he fell unconscious after only a few agonizing seconds.

The witch released him of her holding spell as soon as he fainted, and his body collapsed to the ground in a heap. At a distance, it would appear to any passersby that he was dead, but the spasms that began to shake his body told a different story. The witch stayed long enough to see the beginning of her spell's effects take root, before looking up to the sky with a grin. "It appears I have a guest."

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The raid had been a complete success for the dragons. Only a few had been killed and they were returning to the nest with an above average haul. Everything had gone according to plan, with the Night Fury easily destroying the small amount of defenses Berk had been able to rebuild since the last raid, and leaving the sheep to be easy picking for the flock. It seemed that tonight would mark the first raid in over three months that resulted in no one being eaten by the Queen.

The Night Fury decided to do a quick flyover of the forest before catching up with his nestmates to help ease his adrenaline from the raid. He performed a quick lap of the island and was about to call it a night when a scream from the forest below him caught his attention. A human hatchling, in the middle of the woods? That was odd. Vikings tended to avoid the woods unless they were cutting down trees to build their houses, and he had never heard of a human hatchling wandering into the forest, especially in the middle of the night.

Being a curious dragon, the Night Fury swooped down into the treeline to investigate. He intended to remain hidden and simply observe, but was startled from his hiding place as a green blast shot just over his shoulder, causing him to leap to the forest floor as the tree he was perched on burst into flames.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" The sleek black dragon spun to his left to see the form of an elderly human woman staring at him with an unnerving glint in her eye and a smirk on her lips. He snarled fiercely, realizing the blast that had almost ripped a hole in his shoulder had come from her.

_"Witch!" _he snarled. Witches were rare, and extremely dangerous. He would have to be cautious.

The witch cackled at him. "I'm surprised a devil like you has the brains to know what I am! It's too bad you'll be dead by the time I'm through with you."

The Night Fury was momentarily startled over the fact that she had understood his speech, but refused to lower his guard.

_"Good luck with that," _he growled, before leaping at the old woman with a vicious snarl.

With unnatural speed for a woman her age, the witch dodged to the side before firing a stream of fire at the dragon's side. The Night Fury winced slightly at the blow, but was otherwise unharmed. It was one of the perks of having fireproof scales.

The witch seemed startled that her attack had been so easily shrugged off, making it clear that she had never fought a Night Fury before, and the dragon decided to wrap this up before the witch got any other ideas. He quickly leapt forwards, knocking the staff away from the witch, and pinning her to a tree. He inhaled, forming the largest past blast he had made in months. He refused to take any chances with an opponent with such unnatural abilities.

The fireball reached max capacity, and with one final snarl, he fired the shot point blank into the witch's chest.

There wasn't time for the witch to scream, but even if she could, it would have gone unheard over the explosion created by the plasma bolt.

With an ominous creak, the massive tree that the Night Fury had blasted fell to the forest floor. The dragon was surprised to _not _be covered in the witch's blood until he noticed the pile of ashes at the base of the tree with a cracked glass eye sitting directly on top; the only sign that the ashes came from something other than than a burning shrub. Deciding to not take any chances, the Night Fury lifted a paw and crushed the glass under his foot.

The dragon gave one last look to what remained if the witch, before giving a dismissive snort and turning away. As he prepared to rejoin his flock, he realized that he hadn't seen the human hatchling that he had come to find.

A worrying thought crossed his mind. _'That witch must have found it.'_

Deciding that he wanted to make sure the hatchling was ok, he began to make his way back to where he had heard the scream. As he neared the location, however, a startled yelp caught his attention. It was followed shortly after by a loud splash.

_"A _dragon _hatchling now?! What in the world is a hatchling doing so close to a viking settlement?!" _Shoving the thought aside for the time being, the Night Fury took off in the direction the sound had come from.

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Hiccup groaned as he slowly began to stir. Cracking an eyelid open, he realized he was still in the forest. '_What a weird dream. I must have fainted after running out of the village last night.'_

He attempted to get to his feet, but quickly realized something was wrong, _very _wrong. His body felt weak, and when he tried to stand, his legs didn't respond the way they should have. It almost felt like they were... shorter.

Eyes widening, Hiccup quickly looked down at his hands, only to be greeted with a sight out of any viking's worst nightmare. What he saw most definitely were _not _hands. Each limb was covered in tiny black scales, and several sharp claws extended from the end of each one. _Paws. _He had _paws._ Feeling lightheaded, Hiccup slowly began to notice other unfamiliar things. It slowly dawned on him that everything was much bigger than he remembered, with each tree seemingly stretching all the way into the sky. Hiccup nearly panicked when he realized that he had limbs that he didn't have before. He could feel two large limbs stretching from his back, and a third stretching out behind him from the base of his spine.

_'Oh gods.' _Hiccup spun around to examine himself, and his heart fell when his greatest fears were confirmed. Resting upon his back were a pair of wings, and stretching out behind him was a tail, with what appeared to be a secondary set of smaller wings near its tip.

It took all of Hiccup's willpower to avoid fainting on the spot. Dragon. He was a _dragon._ It hadn't been a dream, then. That witch had indeed cursed him, and seemingly left him to die in the body of his tribe's worst enemy. Taking several deep breaths to calm himself, Hiccup shakily examined himself more closely. He knew he was a dragon. That much was obvious, but he slowly realized that he had no idea what breed of dragon he was. He had never seen such a dragon during the raids. His new scales were pitch black, and his body had a sleek feel to it that almost looked as if it could vanish into the night sky without a trace. A sudden thought struck him, and it wasn't a pleasant one. _'Am I a N-Night Fury?'_

Hiccup's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a massive explosion. His eyes widened in fear. _'That was close by! I need to get out of here before whatever caused that finds me!'_

Struggling to his feet, and finally managing it after three attempts, Hiccup stumbled his way through the woods in an attempt to get as much distance between him and the explosion as possible. Suddenly, the ground fell out from under him, and he realized too late that he had just stepped off of a cliff. He tried to regain his balance, but his clumsiness in his new body caused him to fall forwards and over the edge.

Panicking, Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the end. After a few moments, he realized he wasn't dead, and cracked open his eyes. They instantly widened in shock.

When he fell, Hiccup had instinctively spread out his wings to slow his fall without even noticing, and was currently gliding over a massive natural cove. Realizing what was happening startled him out of his instinctive glide, and he plummeted out of the sky with a startled yelp.

Luckily, his accidental glide had positioned him over a pond off to one side of the cove, and he fell into it with a massive splash. Hiccup began flailing his limbs, realizing he had no idea how to swim in this body, and he was quickly running out of oxygen. _'Well, at least I won't be stuck in this form for long' _he thought solemnly as he began to feel his consciousness fade.

Suddenly, he felt something grab him by the scruff of his neck, and he was pulled out of the water in one mighty tug. As he was placed on the sandy shoreline of the pond, Hiccup gasped for air to fill his burning lungs. After a moment, he felt something large prodding at his side, and he quickly turned to face it, only for his eyes to widen in shock and fear.

Stood in front of him, rapidly sniffing him over, was a larger version of himself. That meant this was a dragon, and if his suspicions as to what species he had become were accurate, then miraculously being saved from drowning was the least of his worries at the moment. The large black dragon seemingly finished it's examination after several endless seconds, before taking a step back and _speaking._

_"Are you alright? You fell into the lake. I barely managed to fish you out in time." _The dragon said with a masculine voice, clearly worried.

_"Y-you spoke!" _Hiccup exclaimed, only to shoot a paw up to his mouth in shock at what had left his mouth. _That _was definitely not Norse, nor his voice. What left his mouth was a series of grunts and growls, but for some reason he was able to make words out of the sounds perfectly, as if it were the language he had been raised on.

The dragon looked taken aback by Hiccup's comment. _"Of course I spoke! Are you sure you're ok?"_

Feeling completely overwhelmed, Hiccup blurted. _"No, I'm not ok! I've been treated like dirt for my entire life by my village for things that are out of my control, I almost got killed by dragons two times last night, and now some crazy witch put a curse on me that turned me into a dragon! I can't go back home like this! They'll kill me! Oh gods, my own father will _kill_ me, and he won't even know!" _

Not even caring that he had just admitted to a wild dragon - a _Night Fury - _that he was human, Hiccup collapsed onto his belly and sobbed for all he had lost.

Shocked by the outburst, the older Night Fury slowly worked his way through what the hatchling had said. After a moment, his eyes widened in shock as he realized what he had just been told. If what the hatchling said was true, then this young Night Fury was actually the human hatchling that he had come to investigate. Guilt washed over him as he realized the implications of what had happened minutes prior. He had killed the witch that had cursed the hatchling, and now there was likely no way for him to be changed back, if such a spell even existed in the first place.

Slowly, the larger dragon wrapped his wings around the depressed hatchling in a comforting manner. After a moment, the smaller dragon began to calm down slightly. _"What is your name?" _He asked slowly, hoping to avoid scaring the poor hatchling.

Hiccup looked into the dragon's eyes with surprise and a slight amount of hope. _"Y-you aren't going to kill me?"_

_"What?! Of course not!" _The dragon replied in shock. Why would the hatchling think he would kill him?

There was a brief moment of silence, before he got his answer. _"Hiccup."_

_"What?"_

_"My name," _Hiccup clarified. _"What's yours?"_

The Night Fury thought about it for a second. He didn't actually have a name. Being the only Night Fury in the nest, everyone he knew simply referred to him by his species name. After a moment of consideration, he responded. _"I… I don't actually have one, but you can call me Toothless."_

_"Why Toothless? That's a silly name! Your far too cool of a dragon for such an underwhelming name!" _Hiccup asked, confused by the choice.

Toothless grinned slightly. _"Well, 'Hiccup' isn't exactly a great name for a cool dragon such as yourself, either. Plus, you need something to help cheer you up." _

Hiccup looked up at him in confusion. _"I'm not cool. For the gods' sake, you're like five times my size! Even as a dragon I'm a runt!"_

_"Actually, I don't think you're a runt. There might be a reason for your size. How old are you mentally?" _Toothless asked with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Hiccup frowned. _"I'm 15, why? Is that a problem?"_

Toothless looked surprised for a moment, before regaining his composure. _"Um, yes, actually. You see, I'm 15 as well."_

Hiccup's eyes widened in shock. _"You mean I..?"_

Toothless nodded. _"The body you are in is definitely not 15. Judging by the color of your scales and general size, I'd have to estimate that you are physically around 6 months old. Practically still a newborn as far as dragons go."_

"_B-but that doesn't make any sense! Why would transforming me make me younger?!"_ Hiccup sputtered.

"_I have no idea," _Toothless said with the draconic equivalent of a shrug. _"But if I had to guess, I'd have to say that it was due to a miscalculation with the spell. It's too bad we'll never be able to find out for sure."_

"_Wait, what do you mean?" _Hiccup asked, becoming slightly worried as Toothless turned his head away with a guilty expression.

"_I-I'm not sure how to say this," _Toothless began, before taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. _"After the raid, I decided to do a lap of the island to calm my adrenaline, and I heard the scream of a human hatchling. I now know that that was you. Anyways, I was curious as to what a hatchling was doing in the woods, so I went to investigate. When I approached, I was attacked by the witch that transformed you. I… I had to defend myself. I fought her and ended up killing her. After that I heard you fall into the cove and grabbed you out of the water. You know the rest."_

Hiccup looked slightly dizzy from the rush of information. _"The witch is… dead?" _He asked in a slow voice after a few moments of silence.

Toothless nodded guiltily. _"I'm sorry. I didn't realize what she had done at the time. Now I don't know if it's even possible to change you back, even though the witch wasn't likely to listen regardless. Now you're stuck in the body you don't even understand and it's all my fault."_

Hiccup sighed sadly, realizing that Toothless was probably right. Without the witch, there was no one who could possibly know how to undo the spell she had cursed him with, meaning he was stuck like this. There was one thing he didn't agree with, however. _"It's not your fault."_

"_What?" _Toothless asked, surprised.

Hiccup gave the dragon a sad smile. _"Like you said, you didn't know. You couldn't have been expected to just let her kill you, after all." _He glanced down at his new body, experimentally stretching his wings. _"Besides, there are worse things that I could have been stuck as. I could have been turned into a sheep to be butchered, for goodness sake! To be honest, I'm glad the witch is dead. If she's dead, it means she can't hurt anyone else ever again, and knowing that will help me sleep at night."_

Toothless was stunned. Hiccup had every reason to hate his guts, and yet he was forgiving him and practically thanking him for killing the his only chance at returning to his human form. _"You are a very selfless person, Hiccup. I admire that. But even though I know what you say is true, I can't help but feel guilty about it." _He paused for a moment. _"I think I know how I can make it up to you to the best of my abilities."_

Hiccup frowned slightly. _"What do you mean?"_

Toothless gave a toothy grin, as if to contradict his odd name. _"Well, you said it yourself. You can't return to your village as a dragon, so I guess that just means that I'll have to take care of you!"_

Hiccup felt tears coming to his eyes. No one had ever cared for him before. Not even his own father could be bothered to spend time with him. "_Y-you'd do that? For me?"_

Toothless gave him a comforting lick on the top of his snout. _"Of course. If I'm the reason you're stuck with the body of a Night Fury, then the least I can do is teach you how to use it."_

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**AN:** **So, what do you think? This is my first real attempt at writing a story outside of the Pokemon fandom, and I personally really like the way it turned out! My other story, The Reborn Chronicles, is being placed on hiatus for the time being. I do not intend on abandoning it, but I'm currently feeling rather uninspired for Pokemon fanfiction, so I branched out a bit to help get my writing spark back. Considering this is one of the longest chapters I've ever written, I'd say I'm quite invested in this idea! Hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you all leave a quick review to give me your feedback! I'm still rather new to the HTTYD franchise, so don't be afraid to point any mistakes out to me. I'm sure there are several.**

**See you all next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello everyone! After the positive response to the first chapter, I decided to get straight back into writing the next chapter, so here we are! Before we start, I have a guest reviewer to reply to:**

"**I see potential in this. The plot so far is pretty nice, and the quality of the writing itself is really high, which i have to congratulate you for - I've read a load of transformation stories but this already is really high up there. Just don't say something along the lines of "i went into the nest and there were BILLIONS of dragons lining the walls" and you're set :)"**

**Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad to see you enjoyed the first chapter! Luckily for you, I don't intend on introducing the nest for quite a while yet. I have a little something else planned that you might see the start of in this chapter.**

**With that said, I think it's about time to let you guys get into the chapter! Please be sure to leave a review on the chapter to let me know what you think and to inform me of any errors I may have missed in editing. Enjoy!**

**EDIT: ****I've gone through and tidied up a few things, such as removing a few unnecessary commas and fixing a couple of typos. I've also added a couple of lines in spots that I felt were lacking. Nothing major nor plot changing, but I figured I should put this here so people know that the chapter has been tinkered with slightly.**

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**"Human Speech"**

_**"Dragon Speech"**_

_**'Thoughts'**_

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Chapter 2

Toothless gave him a comforting lick on the top of his snout. _"Of course. If I'm the reason you're stuck with the body of a Night Fury, then the least I can do is teach you how to use it."_

Hiccup sniffed, blinking away tears. _"I don't know what to say. Thank you so much. If you weren't here, I'm not sure I'd make it."_

_ "I'd have to be a monster to leave a hatchling to die. Don't worry, you're in good paws," _Toothless said with a reassuring purr. _"Now what do you say we get started?"_

Hiccup gave a small smile and was about to respond when he was startled by the sound of his stomach growling hungrily. Blushing under his scales, Hiccup gave Toothless a sheepish look. _"I don't suppose we could get something to eat first? I haven't eaten all day, and I'm not even sure if that meal transferred over when I transformed."_

Toothless laughed. _"Sure. Oh, and you're lucky that you weren't down-aged any farther. If you were even two months younger, you'd be stuck eating regurgitated fish. Hatchlings are unable to eat solids until they reach five months of age."_

Hiccup gave Toothless a disgusted expression. _"Thank the gods. I'm not sure I'd be able to stomach that, even if it was my only option. I assume I'm stuck eating raw fish for the time being?"_

"_Yep, will that be a problem?" _Toothless asked, noticing the way Hiccup's nose scrunched up.

"_No, it's fine. Humans can't eat raw meat without getting sick, so it's not exactly an appetizing thought, but I'm sure I'll manage." _Hiccup replied.

"_Well, in that case, you just stay put and try to stay out of trouble. I'll fly out to sea and catch a meal for us," _Toothless said, before nodding towards a large tree that was positioned in the center of the cove. _ "If you hear anyone approaching the cove, I want you to go hide in the roots of that tree. We don't want any vikings stumbling upon you while you're alone."_

Hiccup shuddered at the thought. _"Ok, how long do you think you will be gone?"_

"_No more than twenty minutes," _Toothless replied, before glancing at the sun. _"I should get going so we can eat and get a decent start on your training before the sun goes down. I'll see you in a few minutes."_

With that, Toothless launched into the sky, flying in the opposite direction from the village. Hiccup watched him go with a contemplative look. Standing on shaky legs, he managed to stumble his way over to the water's edge and peer at his reflection.

To be honest, he wasn't sure what to think of the face that greeted him. It was pretty much a smaller and admittedly cuter version of Toothless's own. He also noticed something odd. He had absolutely no teeth. Surely dragons grew their teeth in by this age, right? Something he would have to ask Toothless about, he decided. On one hand, it hurt to look at his reflection and not be sure exactly who he was looking at, but on the other hand, he had to admit that this body was definitely better off than his human one, despite being a hatchling. He was still rather slim, but rather than making him appear small and weak like it did when he was human, the sleek figure almost gave him a rather intimidating appearance as a dragon.

After a few minutes of staring at his reflection, Hiccup decided to get a head start on learning his body with the simplest thing he could think of: walking. Turning away from the pond, he began to slowly make his way across the cove, stumbling every few steps but thankfully never actually falling. He continued practicing until he saw Toothless land in the cove with several small fish carried in his mouth. At the sight of the fish, Hiccup's gut let out another rumble, and he slowly made his way over to Toothless. By this point, he had found a rhythm with his movements and only stumbled once by the time he reached his draconic friend. _'Friend? Since when did I start thinking of Toothless as a friend?' _Hiccup pondered. _'I guess it's not a bad thing to have a big scaly friend looking out for you.'_

Toothless dropped the six small fish he was carrying and gave Hiccup a smile. _"I see you are starting to adjust to walking on four legs," _He said with a nod before taking a step back from the fish. _"Well, eat up and I'll help you with that."_

Hiccup eyed the fish warily, before glancing up at Toothless. _"What about you?"_

Toothless laughed. _"I ate my fill before I caught these for you. If you're afraid of the taste, just swallow them whole. It helps keep away the flavor, although I personally enjoy the taste."_

A thought crossed Hiccup's mind, and he gaped. _"You expect me to eat all of this?!"_

"_You underestimate the appetite of a growing hatchling," _Toothless said with a grin. _"It only increases as you get older, as well. I had around twenty fish myself."_

Hiccup looked at him strangely for a moment, trying to see if the larger dragon was messing with him, but Toothless was dead serious. _"Wait, how am I supposed to chew, anyways? I don't have any teeth!" _He asked, opening his mouth and displaying his toothless gums for reference.

Toothless laughed. _"Oh! I completely forgot to explain that. Night Furies have retractable teeth. We are born with them retracted. Feel around your mouth for a moment and you should feel the muscles that control them." _He opened his own mouth and pulled in his teeth for reference. _"Now I see why you were confused by the name 'Toothless'!"_

"_Yeah, it makes far more sense now," _Hiccup said with a chuckle. Doing as instructed, he felt around for the muscles that controlled his teeth. He was able to locate them rather easily, and after a few seconds of pulling odd facial expressions, his teeth shot from his gums with a _slck._

Unused to the feeling, Hiccup retracted his teeth and repeated the process. He practiced for a couple minutes before looked back at the fish, unable to believe that he was actually planning on going through with this.

"_Well, let's just get this over with..." _After a few seconds, Hiccup hesitantly took one of the fish in his mouth. He was surprised to find that it didn't taste half as bad as he expected. Taking a cautious bite, he realized that the fish actually tasted rather good!

Toothless noticed his expression and grinned teasingly. _"Not as bad as you thought it would be, huh?"_

Hiccup swallowed the fish before smiling sheepishly. _"I guess one positive thing I can say about this form is that I seem to have a new set of taste buds. If I was still human, this would no doubt taste absolutely disgusting As I am now it's actually pretty good."_

"_Well I guess having any positives at all is an improvement," _Toothless said. _"I'm sure you'll come to find other things you like about your new body eventually. Just wait until I get you up into the air!"_

Hiccup's eyes widened slightly at what Toothless was implying. Why hadn't he realized that earlier? He had wings, for the gods' sake! Unable to help it, a small grin formed on his lips at the thought of flying. He was interrupted from his daydreaming by another growl from his stomach. _'Huh, Toothless wasn't kidding! I don't think I could have eaten that whole fish as a human, and I'm still starving!'_

Hiccup leaned down to take another fish in his mouth, deciding to just finish his meal for the time being. Not even three minutes later, Hiccup swallowed the final fish before looking down at where the fish had been with surprise. _"Dang, you weren't kidding. I can't believe I ate that much."_

"_Told you," _Toothless said with a smug grin.

Hiccup laughed. _"Oh hush!" _

After a moment, Toothless decided to speak up. "_Well, we should probably continue working on your walking. We'll be leaving tonight and you'll need a few hours of sleep in order to make it through the night, so I would like to get this covered as soon as possible."_

_"Wait, what do you mean by 'leaving'?" _Hiccup asked, confused.

"_We can't stay here for much longer," _Toothless explained. _"Your village will likely be sending out search parties to find you by tomorrow morning, and we really don't want a group of armed vikings coming across a pair of Night Furies in the woods while looking for a missing hatchling. From what I've seen of your kind, vikings tend to kill first and ask their questions to the corpse." _After a moment, he realized who he was talking to and quickly added. _"Uh, no offense."_

Hiccup laughed. _"It's hard to take offense when it's completely accurate." _He looked down at his feet for a moment, deep in thought. When he looked up, he had a slightly worried look in his eye. _"Hey, Toothless? Can you do me a massive favor before we leave?"_

Toothless frowned slightly, but nodded. _"Anything. What do you need?"_

"_Considering this is more than likely the last time I'll ever see any of my friends or family again, I want to leave my father a message letting him know what happened and that I'm alive and safe. He's already lost my mother to a dragon raid back when I was a baby and I'm not sure if he would be able to handle losing me as well," _Hiccup explained with a sad smile._ "I'm hoping that letting him know I'm safe will help with that and prevent him from wasting time on useless search parties that won't find anything when he should be preparing the village for the winter."_

Toothless nodded. _"I suppose that makes sense. What will you need in order to leave the message?" _

Hiccup thought about it for a moment. _"I'll need some ink and some parchment. I've got some in my room back at my house. It's up against the woods and my father almost never goes into my room, so I should be able to climb in through the window and grab what I need without any trouble."_

"_And you're sure you can get in and out without being seen?" _Toothless asked worriedly.

"_Positive," _Hiccup said in the most determined voice he could muster.

"_Alright, then. Let's go grab that stuff now and come back here. We'll drop off the note when we leave tonight."_ Toothless said, crouching down and motioning to his back. _"Hop on."_

Hiccup cautiously clambered up onto Toothless's back before shooting him a worried glance. _"Are you sure this is safe?"_

"_Relax, Dragons carry their hatchlings this way all the time," _Toothless reassured._ "Besides, I'm not going to be flying very high. Just enough to get us out of this cove. From there I'll carry you on foot. We can't risk being seen from the air and you're still too clumsy on your feet to get there and back in an efficient manner."_

With that said, Toothless launched himself into the air with Hiccup clinging a little too tightly to his back. Luckily, his scales prevented Hiccup from accidentally drawing blood, and instead his needle-like claws latched onto them without piercing the flesh underneath.

* * *

Thankfully, Hiccup's little stealth mission went smoothly and without any issues. As soon as Toothless landed them back into the cove, Hiccup set to work on his letter. He flattened out the parchment to the best of his abilities and dipped a claw into the ink jar, deciding that would work better than trying to hold a pencil without fingers.

Hiccup started by explaining what had happened during the raid and how he had fled into the woods to wait out the raid when their home had caught on fire. He then went into details with his encounter with the witch, and carefully explained what she had done to him. There was no possible way his father would take this well, but there was no point in lying about it when he didn't plan on coming back regardless.

After that, Hiccup wrote about his meeting with Toothless, and was sure to emphasize that the dragon meant him no harm and was in fact taking care of him. He doubted his father would believe him, but there wasn't much he could do about that. When he went to write about what he planned on doing next, he realized he wasn't even sure exactly where they were going to be heading.

"_Hey, Toothless, you haven't said where we'll be going. Will you be bringing me back to the nest?"_ Hiccup asked curiously. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the concept of living among his tribe's mortal enemies, but he supposed it was better than staying here.

To his surprise, Toothless was heavily against the idea. _"Oh hell no! If I bring you there, the 'queen' will kill you within ten minutes! In fact, we are heading south east, directly _away _from the nest. There's an island I know of that we will be staying at. It's a little warmer than it is here, so we should be able to make it through the winter without much difficulty, and it's far away from any viking settlements, so we won't have to worry about any hunting parties."_

Hiccup was surprised by how angrily Toothless had spat out the word 'queen'. _"I take it you and the queen don't exactly see eye-to-eye?"_

Toothless scoffed. _"She's no queen to us. It would be more accurate to call her a tyrant. She's absolutely massive - I'm not even sure if she would be able to fit in this cove - and uses her size to rule over the other dragons. She forces us to raid viking settlements to feed her, and if we either refuse or fail to bring back enough she eats some of us instead. I want to put as much space between us and her as we possibly can."_

Hiccup shuddered at the thought of a dragon so large, and was surprised to have been so willingly told the reason for all the raids in the archipelago. With new inspiration, he quickly finished off his message before signing his name and washing the remaining ink off his claw by dipping it in the pond.

"_Ok, it's finished. I'll leave it on my desk tonight," _Hiccup announced._ "Like I said, my dad doesn't really go into my room unless he has to. He'll probably find it sometime tomorrow morning when he's looking for me." _He let out a large yawn. _"That's odd. I don't normally feel tired during the day. I normally stay up quite late, actually."_

Toothless let out a yawn of his own. _"It's probably because unlike humans, Night Furies are instinctively nocturnal. Regardless, we should get some sleep. It's a long flight from here to our destination, so we should get a few hours of sleep before the sun goes down." _He walked over to Hiccup and wrapped his wings around him in a leathery embrace, coating the smaller dragon in warmth.

Hiccup let out a content sigh, or at least that's what he intended to do. Instead, he felt a soft purring erupt from his chest, startling him slightly. It was an odd feeling, but it wasn't unpleasant. Instinctively snuggling further into Toothless's embrace, Hiccup quickly fell into a deep sleep. Toothless smiled slightly at the purring mass of his charge. Pleased with the smaller dragon's comfort, he rested his head down and drifted off to sleep himself.

* * *

Hiccup was woken from his rest shortly after the moon had begun to rise over the treeline to the feeling of Toothless prodding at his side with his snout. Standing up, he stretched out his back in a similar manner to a cat and let out a yawn. He noticed that the sun had set and was surprised to realize that he could still see nearly as well as he could during the day._ "Huh, well there's another perk of being a Night Fury; Night vision." _He mused to himself before glancing over at Toothless. _"Is it time to go already?"_

Toothless nodded. _"Yeah. Did you sleep well? We have a long night ahead of us and it would be best if you don't fall asleep while we're up in the air."_

Hiccup couldn't help but smile slightly at the way Toothless fretted over him. _"Yep, I slept great. In fact, that was probably the best rest I've had in years."_

Toothless nodded with a pleased smile, before crouching down and giving Hiccup access to his back. _"Good. Well, we're burning moonlight. We should get a move on."_

Hiccup grabbed the message to his father and once again climbed up onto Toothless's back, making it up with slightly less trouble than before. With a single beat of wings, the pair vanished into the night sky.

* * *

It was early the next morning when Stoick the Vast realized that something was wrong. He was used to his son disappearing for a day every now and then, but he always came back before the sun went down. After a moment of pondering, Stoick realized that he had never actually checked whether or not Hiccup had returned home after the raid two nights prior.

Suddenly very worried, Stoick rushed over to the forge. He found Gobber tinkering with an ax. "Gobber! Have you seen Hiccup? It's important!"

Gobber sighed, setting the ax down on the counter. "Alright, what'd the lad do this time?"

"That's the thing, Gobber," Stoick said with worry evident in his voice. "He's done nothing. I haven't seen him since before the raid. Has he stopped by?"

Gobber's face quickly morphed into one of worry. "Nay, I haven' seen the lad since he came to work the day of the raid." Standing up from his workbench, he gave Stoick a stern look. "Now, normally I'd scold ye for not noticing he was gone fer so long, but now's not the time. I'll help ye search for 'em."

After nearly an hour with absolutely zero results, Stoick was on the verge of calling out a search party. "Now, hol' on, Stoick. Maybe the lad left a clue as to where he's gone off to. Let's not jump to conclusions just yet. Have ye searched the lad's room?"

Stoick frowned. "No, let's go. It should be obvious if something is out of place. He tends to keep his room clean for the most part. Something about it being hard to concentrate when he's knee deep in junk."

"Aye," Gobber said. "He learnt that from me. Can't do a good job forgin' a weapon if you're too busy trippin' over scraps."

At first glance, nothing appeared out of the ordinary when the pair took in the sight of Hiccup's room. His bed had been made, his dirty clothes were in a basket off in the back corner of the room, and all of his schematics and sketches were neatly stacked on one side of his desk, right next to a slightly crumpled piece of parchment, held open by a jar of ink that was acting as a paperweight. "Gobber, look," Stoick said, walking over to the desk. His eyes widened at what he saw written on the paper. "It's a letter! From Hiccup!"

Gobber rushed over as Stoick sat at the desk to read. The chair creaked under his weight Having been built specifically for Hiccup, it wasn't exactly the definition of sturdy. The blacksmith leaned over his shoulder to read the note as well.

_Hey, Dad..._

_I'd like to apologize for all the trouble I've caused you these past few years. I know you had a lot of extra work because of my inventions. If you are reading this note, then it means that I have most likely turned up missing and you are looking for me. _

_I'm writing this note to inform you of my current predicament. On the night I disappeared, I had been forced to retreat into the woods to avoid the carnage of the raid after a Nightmare set our house aflame. I meant to come home after an hour or so; just long enough for the dragons to move on to a different part of the village, but I ended up stumbling upon something that I didn't even believe existed. A witch._

"A witch?!" Stoick exclaimed. "I swear if that demon hurt my son I will make her wish she were never born!"

"There's still more to read, Stoick. At least finish reading the letter before ye run off seekin' revenge," Gobber said in an attempt to reassure his friend, but his voice was grim. Witches were extremely dangerous creatures. If Hiccup had truly found one, then all they could do was pray to Thor that he had somehow managed to escape.

_She had taken the appearance of an old woman, and attacked me as soon as I realized what she was. She froze my body in place, keeping me from fleeing, before telling me that she was going to use me to test one of her new spells. _

_She hit me with the spell, and I'm not quite sure what happened directly after that. I remember feeling the worst pain of my entire life, and then nothing._

_When I awoke, the witch was gone. I tried to get up to get back to the village, but something wasn't right. _

_Now, this is where everything goes from crazy to unbelievable, so please keep an open mind. I'm going to put this bluntly. That witch transformed me. I'm no longer human. She trapped me in the form of a dragon. I later came to realize that I was a Night Fury._

_Before you go throwing this in the trash and calling me insane, I need to tell you something else. Shortly after I awoke, I was startled by a massive explosion in the woods, and fell into a natural cove. I landed in a pond and almost drowned, but I was saved at the last moment._

_This is even more unbelievable, but the person that saved me was another Night Fury; The one from the raid. He's been looking after me for the past day or so, and he's surprisingly friendly. I know you won't believe me, but I guess that doesn't matter. I started calling him Toothless; don't ask. _

_Before you go out searching to get your revenge on the witch, I should inform you that she is already dead. Toothless made sure of that. The issue is that now that she's dead, she can't change me back, meaning I'm stuck like this, probably for good. _

_Toothless feels terrible about it, and has promised to teach me how to live as a Night Fury. He's already started showing me a few small things. Apparently Night Furies have retractable teeth. Who would have thought?_

_Toothless says we are going to head south east. He wants to put as much distance between us and the nest as possible. He fears that if he were to bring me there, the queen would kill me. He also wishes you luck on taking it down. He wants that tyrant dead just as much as we do. If you don't believe me, then please try to notice the lack of any Night Furies during future raids. He was the only one in the nest, so you will never have to deal with one of them again._

_If you truly want to seek us out, then please only do so peacefully. I wish I could have stayed, but I'd be killed within a week and my head would be decorating someone's fireplace; probably yours. We wish to live in peace, but if you ever come to be willing to find me and put your hatred for dragons aside, then I would be the happiest son on Midgard. _

_If you seek us out in order to kill us, I'm sorry to say that I will not hesitate to kill you, however much it might pain me to do so. Please try to understand._

_Until the day we meet again_

_Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III_

Stoick gingerly laid the parchment back onto the desk with shaky hands. "My son… My poor son..!" The desk split in two as Stoick pounded his fist onto it with strength fueled by grief.

"What do we do, Stoick? Do ye think all of this is true?" Gobber asked in a small voice, very unusual coming from such a large man.

"Hiccup would have no reason to lie about something like this, however unbelievable it may be. I just hope that the Night Fury that found him truly intends on helping him. Otherwise, he's as good as dead," He looked towards the window, before noticing something that made his heart go cold. On the windowsill laid a small pitch black scale. A small note next to it simply read _"A gift to remember me by"_.

Stoick reached out and took the scale in trembling hands. "...So it's true then. My only son really has been turned into one of the beasts." He turned to Gobber. "No one from the village can know the truth. They won't understand. We'll have to hold a funeral for him tonight. In the meantime, I'll send a search party into the woods to make it look convincing. "

Gobber frowned as he reread the note. "What are ye going to do about the last part? He said the Night Fury was taking them south east. Will ye go after 'em?"

Stoick thought hard for a moment. "Not yet. I want to believe it, Gobber, I really do! But it's too much to take in all at once. Winter is nearly upon us, and if we go now, we won't be able to return here until the ice melts in the spring. We'll wait until spring, and if the Night Fury stays truthful and doesn't take part in any more raids, then the two of us will sail south east and attempt to locate them."

"The question is, will ye be goin' in peace?" Gobber asked hesitantly.

"If the Night Fury remains truthful, then I will go in peace. Even if it is a devil, I owe it upon my honor for looking after my son; let alone saving his life." Stoick said in a voice that very clearly left no room for argument.

Stoick took one last glance out the window before turning to leave, the black scale still held in his grip as he whispered out a prayer. "May Odin protect you, my son."

* * *

**AN: So, what did you think? This chapter turned out to be even longer than the first one, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Lots of bonding between Toothless and Hiccup, and the pair have finally set out for new lands. **

**I know that Stoick was pretty out of character in the final section there, but as stated in the story description, I'm going for a more laid back approach to the Dragon!Hiccup formula. Because of this, I felt that it wouldn't make sense for Stoick to outright reject Hiccup's explanation and declare to kill the Night Furies like he does in pretty much every other story in this genre. Hopefully there aren't many grammatical mistakes this time around. I did my best to avoid them, but I'm sure one or two managed to slip through the cracks regardless. Before you click off, please make sure to leave a review on the chapter to let me know what you think! Reviews are by far my biggest inspiration, and any constructive criticism can only help me to improve! Well, that's all I have for today, so I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hello everyone! I'm back with another chapter! I'm glad to hear that so many of you are enjoying the story! Once again, before we start, I have a guest review that I would like to respond to:**

"**Wow this is surprisingly good. It has correct grammar, doesn't follow the Stoick wants to kill him cliche most of these types of stories have, has decent length chapters and has a unique way of Hiccup turning into a night fury. In short it's amazing."**

**Thank you for all the kind words! One of my inspirations for writing this was the lack of variety when it came to how Stoick is portrayed. I felt that in a lot of the stories, Stoick's reaction felt rather odd. Most of the time, he seems to think that Hiccup is brainwashed as a Night Fury, or that his son is actually dead and the Night Fury in front of him was just impersonating him. To me, those reactions always feel forced. All of the evidence is being crammed into this man's face, and he ignores it all and tries to kill his son anyways. No matter how stubborn vikings are, you would have to expect that a grieving father would prefer to think positively on the chance that his son could be alive, as Hiccup is pretty much always considered dead by the time these scenes happen in this genre, and he had already lost his wife. I felt that having him have a more accepting, if not a little cautious, outlook on the news would fit well with the story I want to create. As for it being a unique way of Hiccup becoming a Night Fury, I'm afraid you give me far too much credit. I will be honest and say that I have seen several stories have Hiccup be cursed by a witch. If you mean how I had him down-aged, then I know of one other story that does something similar, as well as a few in which he is fully reborn after dying to the Red Death. Specifically, **

_**"Brothers of the Night" **_**and **_**"A Gift of Wings"**_** come to mind while thinking of the latter option. By no means would I consider my story to be highly original, but instead I wish to forge this story into a more laid back and fun story, without as much death and violence, while also giving it its own identity that sets it apart from other stories within the genre.**

**Whew, sorry about the rant! I have a tendency to say everything on my mind when it comes to these types of things, so hopefully that essay of a response doesn't scare you guys off!**

**Now that that's out of the way, here's your friendly reminder to leave a review after you finish reading the chapter! I always enjoy reading what you guys think of my stories, and any and all constructive criticism helps me to improve as a writer.**

**As a side note, I have gone back and edited chapter 2 to fix up a few mistakes. Nothing major or important, but those changes should go live right around the time I post this chapter. On that note, I'll leave you in peace to read the chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

"**Human Speech"**

"_**Dragon Speech"**_

'_**Thoughts'**_

* * *

Chapter 3

The first night in the air passed by rather uneventfully. Hiccup's initial excitement of being up in the air had long since mellowed out, and in its place came boredom. He passed the time by making small talk with Toothless, hoping to get some information about the island they were heading to. Unfortunately for him, Toothless was tight-lipped on the topic, simply saying that he wanted it to be a surprise, assuring him that it would be worth the wait.

Toothless landed on a small island early the next morning for a short rest. Hiccup immediately hopped down from the larger dragon's back. He landed on wobbly legs, not used to being back on solid ground. He shook his head rapidly to clear his dizziness, and let out a small groan.

"_Will it always feel like that?" _He asked after a moment, blinking a few times to clear his vision. "_I feel like I just got off of a ship after a month's long voyage… and I could have sworn I'd gotten my sea legs by now!"_

Toothless chuckled. _"Only the first few times. Most young dragons have the same issue. You'll get used to it pretty quickly."_

"_How much farther is it to the island, by the way?" _Hiccup asked curiously. _"Are we getting close?"_

"_You know, sometimes I forget you are supposed to be 15 mentally," _Toothless teased. _"That's the kind of thing I'd expect to hear from a hatchling!"_

Hiccup blushed under his scales. _"Hey, you can hardly blame me!" _He protested._ "I'm still new to all of this!"_

"_Relax, I'm just messing with you," _Toothless said with a laugh. _"We still have two more nights of flying ahead of us. I'm going to go and catch a few fish to hold us off until we reach the next island."_

"_Are you sure I'll be fine out here by myself?" _Hiccup asked, glancing around at his surroundings warily.

"_You'll be fine. This island doesn't have any human villages on it, so you shouldn't run into any trouble. At worst, you might run into a curious Terror."_

Hiccup gave him a look. _"You do realize that doesn't help my nerves, right?"_

Toothless rolled his eyes, a very unusual expression for a dragon. _"Right… I forgot you were raised on the whole 'mindless killing machines' propaganda."_

Hiccup frowned. _"You know about that?"_

Toothless laughed slightly. _"With a Night Fury's hearing, it's not exactly difficult to overhear the insults thrown your way during the raids. That and the terrified shouts whenever I go into a dive." _At this, an amused grin crossed his face and he exclaimed in a falsely terrified voice. _"Night Fury! Get Down!" _

Hiccup couldn't help but grin. _"Hey, you have to admit, you are pretty fearsome when you're raiding. All we hear is a brief whistle and then something gets blown to pieces half a second later." _Hiccup's voice took on a teasing tone._ "Of course, now that I've met you, I know that you're really nothing but an overgrown kitten!"_

"_Keep in mind that any insults you toss my way can be directed right back at yourself," _Toothless said with an amused smirk.

"_Touché."_

"_We are getting way off topic here," _Toothless said. _"Basically speaking, just forget everything you were taught about dragons back in your village. You'll actually find that most dragons are rather friendly if you get to know them properly." _He paused for a moment. _"I did tell you that the queen forces us to raid the villages, right?"  
_ _"You did," _Hiccup confirmed with a nod. _"It's just that it's not easy to come to terms with the fact that everything I know about you guys is either a lie or a massive exaggeration. They call you the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, for goodness sake!"_

Toothless gave a toothy grin. _"Oh, do they now? What a noble title," _he snarked.

"_So what do I do if I come across another dragon?" _Hiccup asked.

"_It's highly unlikely to happen here, but if you do, just be friendly and I doubt they'll bother you," _Toothless replied. _ "At worst they'll probably ask where you came from. Night Furies are extremely rare. In fact, I highly doubt our numbers are even in the triple digits."_

"_Well, if you're sure…" _Hiccup said, still feeling a little nervous.

Toothless gave him a reassuring smile. _"I shouldn't be more than a few minutes. Try to practice your movement while I'm gone. I plan on teaching you how to hunt when we get to the island, and you need to be efficient on your feet if you want to stand any chance at catching a rabbit; Let alone a deer."_

Hiccup seemed slightly uneasy about the concept of hunting, but pushed the thought aside. _"Alright, I'll see you when you get back."_

Toothless nodded before launching into the air and heading back out to sea. Deciding to heed his friend's advice, Hiccup got to his feet and slowly trotted around the clearing. After noticing that he wasn't stumbling, he began to pick up the pace.

Now at what could be considered a basic walking speed, Hiccup found that the art of walking on four legs had a very clear rhythm to it. With that in mind, he focused on memorizing the pattern and found himself improving at a much faster rate.

By the time Toothless returned with their late breakfast, Hiccup could walk at a standard pace without any slip ups. He had attempted a run, but wasn't having much luck in that regard quite yet.

Seeing Hiccup up and moving around, Toothless grinned. _"It looks like you're starting to get the hang of it," _He said with a pleased nod. _"Good work."_

Hiccup blushed red under his scales, unused to being so easily complimented. _"It was actually pretty simple once I got the pattern down. I still can't run, but it's a start."_

"_That's perfectly fine for now. We still have a few days for you to practice before we reach our destination," _Toothless said, before giving Hiccup a light nudge with his snout._ "Now, eat up before I decide I could do with a second helping!"_

"_Alright, alright!" _Hiccup said with a laugh. _"You can be such a mother hen sometimes, you know that?"_

For once, it was Toothless's turn to look flustered. After a moment, an idea came to mind, and he smirked mischievously _"Well, if you don't want the fish, then I guess I'll eat it. I just thought you'd be hungry. Oh well, I could go for seconds." _Opening his mouth, he slowly and dramatically reached out for one of Hiccup's fish.

"_Hey!" _Hiccup squeaked indignantly, hurrying over before his ravenous friend could get his mouth on his food._ "You know very well that's not what I meant!"_

* * *

The next two days passed in a similar fashion. They would fly throughout the night, and land in the morning for a brief meal and a few hours of shut eye while Hiccup tried to squeeze in some practice whenever he could. They would be back up in the air by midday, stopping occasionally on small islands to rest, and the process would repeat. By the time the duo set out on their third and final night of traveling, Hiccup had the basics of movement down perfectly. He could even run decently well, although he couldn't even hope to match Toothless in a race quite yet.

"_So," _Hiccup began after nearly half an hour of silently flying through the night. _"Are you going to tell me about the island we're going to yet?"_

Toothless laughed. _"Are you sure you aren't a real hatchling? This is the fourth time you've asked that tonight!"_

Hiccup grinned sheepishly. _"I figured if I pestered you enough then you'd cave and tell me." _

"_Yep, definitely living up to your hatchling body," _Toothless said, rolling his eyes, although the amused grin on his face showed that he wasn't really all that annoyed.

"_You can hardly blame me!" _Hiccup pouted. _"We've been flying for hours and I'm bored out of my mind! It doesn't help that you keep talking about how much I'll like the island. It makes sense for me to be curious!"_

"_Well, you're in luck. We made better time than I expected. We're getting close; you should be able to spot the island on the horizon any time now." _Toothless said, much to Hiccup's glee.

Leaning as far over Toothless's shoulder as he dared, Hiccup narrowed his eyes, scanning the horizon for any traces of land. Subconsciously, his pupils retracted to slits as his vision zoned in on the distance. After a few moments of silence, he suddenly exclaimed. _"I think I see something!" _

Toothless banked towards the distant speck. _"Yep, that's the place!" _He said with a grin. _"We're still five or so miles out, but at our current speed, we should arrive within a couple minutes."_

Hiccup's eyes widened slightly. _"Five miles?! I've always known that dragons had better eyesight than humans, but that's ridiculous!"_

"_Dragons are creatures of the sky," _Toothless explained. _"We need good eyesight to help spot things on the ground without having to land."_

"_So, what will we be doing when we arrive?" _Hiccup asked curiously.

"_Sleeping," _Toothless replied immediately. _"You may not feel it yet, but we are running on far too little sleep at the moment, due to island hopping. Now that we're here, I plan on sleeping until next sundown. I suggest you do the same. You are nocturnal now, after all."_

Hiccup surprised himself by letting out a yawn. _"I could do with some more sleep as well. But as soon as we're awake I'm making you show me around!"_

Toothless chuckled as he began to soar over the island. _"Don't worry, that was the plan anyways. Now hold on, I'm getting ready to land."_

Toothless swooped down and landed neatly on the side of a mountain. Hiccup hopped down from his friend's back as the larger Night Fury motioned towards an opening in the side of a nearby cliff. _"Well, this is it! Home sweet home… at least during the winter."_

Hiccup eyed the cave for a moment. _"How do you keep warm during the winter, anyways? I know you said it's a little warmer here, but it's still a little chilly. I'm sure it still snows here quite a bit over the cold months."_

Toothless shuddered dramatically. _"Ugh, I'm not sure how I feel about that stuff. On one paw, it's pretty and fun to play in, but on the other it makes it a nightmare for us Night Furies to hunt. It completely ruins our camouflage."_

Hiccup laughed at the mental image that provided. _"You must stick out like a sore thumb!" _He said, amused, before a thoughtful expression crossed his snout. _" ...Or would the more accurate phrase be a sore claw? Eh, you know what I mean."_

"_I'm sure you'll figure that kind of stuff out in time," _Toothless said with a slight chuckle. _"For now, I'd like to get to sleep before sunrise. Follow me, I want to show you something I think you'll enjoy, now that we will be sleeping on stone floors."_

Hiccup followed Toothless with a spark of curiosity as he led him into the cave. After a few minutes of walking through the dark tunnels the pair emerged into a decently sized chamber. It wasn't anything massive, but there was plenty of room to house the duo and probably a few others as well if it had to.

Toothless purred slightly as he glanced around, a content smile on his snout. _"Ahh, it's nice to be back. I always miss this place when I'm stuck back at that tyrant's nest."_

Hiccup frowned slightly in confusion. _"Then why go back? It's not like you have to go back. I doubt the queen can find us out here if she tried."_

"_To be honest, most dragons don't have that luxury. Remember what I said about how the queen forces dragons to raid in order to feed her? I… wasn't entirely truthful with you then."_

Hiccup gave the dragon a worried glance. _"What do you mean?"_

"_The queen… no, the _Red Death, _is far more dangerous than I made her out to be," _Toothless began in a grim tone. _"Most of what I told you was the truth, but there was one thing I twisted slightly. Remember how I said that if a dragon refused to raid a village, the queen would eat them?"_

"_Yeah, I remember. I'm assuming there is more to that?"_

Toothless nodded gravely. _"The thing is, I made up the part about them being eaten if they refused. They _are _eaten if they don't bring back enough food, but in reality, the dragons aren't even physically capable of disobeying the queen."_

Hiccup felt a sinking feeling in his gut. _"You mean… she brainwashes them?"_

"_The Red Death is one of very few dragon species that are capable of becoming an Alpha. Alpha dragons are immensely powerful, and are able to fully control the minds of their underlings if they so wish," _Toothless explained._ "Usually Alpha dragons are very kind and benevolent creatures. They look after every member of their nest and protect them from harm. Most of the time, they will use their power to guide members of the nest away from harm's reach, or perhaps call all the dragons back to the nest to wait out an approaching storm, and even then they only do so through a form of telepathy. Controlling an underling's mind is usually reserved for breaking up fights or if something needs to be done with extreme precision from a group of dragons, such as expanding the nest."_

"_So what makes this 'Red Death' different?" _Hiccup asked with grave curiosity.

Toothless's eyes clouded over for a moment, as if he were recalling a dreaded memory._ "I wasn't alive when the Red Death invaded, but I've been told of it by a few of the older dragons in the nest who were, over the winters while we were free of her control. It was an otherwise uneventful night, just over three-hundred years ago. The flock was going about their everyday business as usual when one of the sentry Nadders rushed into the nest screaming that they were under attack. Back then, the nest was independent and was without an Alpha of any kind, so they weren't able to defend themselves when she settled into the pit of the volcano, forcefully claiming the nest as her own by imposing her power on the entire flock. Those who resisted were killed brutally and used as an example for any others who might have been considering revolting against her. Apparently it didn't even take a week for every dragon in the nest to be placed under her control."_

Toothless took a deep breath to ease his aching lungs before continuing. _"What makes her different from other Alphas is that she abuses her status as an Alpha. Unlike other Alphas who rarely use their abilities, the Red Death keeps the nest under her control at all times. The only time when we are able to break free of her power is during the winter. Luckily, Red Death dragons have to hibernate throughout the winter, and that weakens her control over us just enough to temporarily shake her off. Unfortunately when she goes into hibernation, she still leaves traces of her power within us, and as soon as it gets warm again, she regains control. It's a horrible way of life, but there isn't anything any of us can do about it."_

Hiccup looked horrified by the revelation, before a sudden thought sparked his interest. _"Well, clearly you aren't under her control, or you would have no doubt killed me by now. Does her spell not affect you?"_

Toothless gave a genuine smile, _"I'm impressed you picked up on that so easily. You see, the only dragons that can withstand an Alpha's power is another dragon of similar attributes; another Alpha, or at least a member of an Alpha species."_

Hiccup caught on to what Toothless was implying. _"Night Furies are an Alpha species?"_

Toothless's smile wavered. _"Yes. I'm sure you are wondering how I got involved with the nest if I am immune to her pull, and sadly it's not a pleasant tale. Before I hatched, my mother lived by herself on an island not too far from the nest. While I was still an egg, my mother was found by some of the queen's thralls. The queen was in control of their minds, and through them she tricked my mother into bringing my egg to the nest. They said that she would be safe there and would be able to raise me without fear." _Toothless's body trembled, and he took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. _"The queen was well aware of the fact that Night Furies were able to resist her call, and she had no intention of holding her word. As soon as my mother entered the nest with my egg, the queen ambushed her. I-I'm not even sure she knew what happened. One second she was there, and the next the queen... b-bit her in two."_

Hiccup gasped. _"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry. W-when did you find out?"_

Toothless's eyes were wet. _"Dragons are sentient even while still developing within the egg. I... saw it all personally, at least through my senses. I still have nightmares about it occasionally. From what I gathered, the queen seemed to think that she could control me if she forced her power on me while I was still developing. I was scared for my life, so I… I pretended that the spell had been successful. I participated in raids, and did things I'm not proud of. But I was so afraid that I would be killed if I fled that I just kept at it throughout my life. I'm honestly shocked that she never caught on."_

Hiccup leaned forwards and gave his friend a comforting lick, surprised by how naturally the gesture came to him, before stating what was on his mind. _"Well, as long as I have anything to say about it, you aren't going to be her slave any longer. We'll stay out here and train. If one Night Fury can't take her, then maybe two of us _can_. We'll make a plan, and in a few years we'll go back to rid the nest of her for good. If she somehow manages to find us out here, I'll help you fight. I'll fight with everything I have to keep us safe, or die trying. I'm not about to submit to a killer."_

Toothless's teary eyes widened gradually as he took in Hiccup's heartfelt speech. He wiped his eyes with a paw and stood up to meet Hiccup's determined gaze with one of his own. _"I was thinking the same thing. There's a reason I brought you here instead of the nest, after all. I'm not about to let her do to you what she did to me and so many others. I… I'm lucky to be able to consider you my friend."_

Hiccup gave a wide smile, before suddenly let out a yawn. _"Well, enough with the depressing talk. I feel like I'm about to collapse. What was it you wanted to show me?"_

Toothless perked up, glad for the change in subjects. _"Oh you'll love this!" _He darted over to one side of the chamber and hopped up onto a perfectly flat stone. Curious, Hiccup hopped up after him. Toothless grinned. _"Watch this."_

Opening his mouth, Toothless summoned a continuous stream of fire, much weaker than one of his typical blasts. Spinning in place, he lit the stone aflame, causing Hiccup to yelp in surprise, before laying down on the flames and offering a wing. _"You wondered how I stayed warm in the winter? This is how. It's extremely comfortable. Since you don't know how to use your flame yet, you can share my stone until you learn to make your own."_

Hesitantly, Hiccup stepped forward, wary of the embers that still surrounded the dragon. He let out a yelp of surprise when he accidentally stepped on one, but was surprised to find that the fire didn't hurt in the slightest. In fact, it almost felt… nice? A realization struck him, and he mentally slapped himself for not noticing sooner. He had fireproof scales! Of course the fire couldn't hurt him!

Reassured, Hiccup crawled under Toothless's extended wing and snuggled into his side like he had done over the past few days. He involuntarily found himself purring as the heat from the embers sent soothing warmth through his body. Looking up to meet Toothless's amused gaze, he chirped contently. _"I could get used to this."_

"_I told you you'd like it," _he said with a grin. _"Now let's get some sleep. Your training begins tonight, and we have a long road ahead of us if we want to take down that tyrant."_

Sleep was something Hiccup could get behind. Coated in warmth from the smoldering stone beneath him and the leathery embrace of his friend, he easily fell into a content slumber. It didn't take long for Toothless to follow his lead, resting his head down and curling his tail protectively around Hiccup's dozing form before falling into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

**AN: Whew, this one was a pain to write out. I had quite a bit of trouble deciding on exact lines for a few scenes, but hopefully it turned out well in the end! If you have the time, please be sure to leave a review and give me your thoughts on the chapter. Any constructive criticism is much appreciated, as it helps me to improve as an author. Next chapter focuses on the start of Hiccup's training, so I hope you are all looking forward to that!**

**I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


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